Contact: Evelyn M. Suarez and Singleton B. McAllister; Williams Mullen (Virginia & North Carolina, USA)
Signed into law by President Clinton on May 18, 2000 and subsequently expanded, the African Growth and Opportunity Act ( AGOA) is a unilateral system of trade preferences that allows thousands of types of goods produced in Sub-Saharan Africa to be imported duty-free to the United States.
AGOA is widely perceived to be a success, albeit a limited one. From 2001 to 2011, the aggregate amount of exports from Africa to the United States under AGOA increased from $8 billion to $54 billion; the number of countries participating grew from 34 to 40; and the number of countries exporting non-energy products increased from 13 to 22. American officials describe AGOA as the “cornerstone” of U.S. trade policy with Africa.
Because AGOA is set to expire in 2015, U.S. lawmakers and trade policy officials have launched investigations into AGOA’s efficacy. In particular, a group of bipartisan legislators from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Comptroller General requesting that the General Accountability Office examine the effectiveness of AGOA in an effort to better increase investment, trade and job growth between African countries and the United States. House Foreign Affairs Committee press release click here.
